


And There Was Only ONE Bed

by steampunkcircus



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, F/F, F/M, M/M, Marichat, Sharing a Bed, unconnected one-shots/drabbles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-06-19 21:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15518514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steampunkcircus/pseuds/steampunkcircus
Summary: Bed sharing drabbles. Each chapter is a different pairing. Mostly fluff, somehow?





	1. Adrinette

**Author's Note:**

> "I'm going to take a break before GabeNath week" I said to myself. "I should spend some time relaxing and doing all those things I put off in June and July" I said.  
> Anyway, here's some drabbles/unconnected one-shots.

"Well," Adrien said. "At least we have time for that second movie?"

He and Marinette stood facing the windows in his room. The large metal window shields blocked out the last bit of light that had been in the room.

"Until your laptop dies," Marinette said, turning to stare up at the darkened ceiling light. The power had gone out five minutes before the shutters fell.

"It's got a great battery life."

They settled down on the couch again, Marinette texting her parents to let them know she wouldn't be home for a while.

"Can they even turn off the lockdown without the power?" Marinette asked. She probably shouldn't know that much about the Agreste home security system.

"I don't think so," he said. "We might be stuck a while."

"A while" turned out to be at least until morning when someone could repair the electricity. Nathalie had to yell all of this through Adrien's door because the new security measures kept each bedroom sealed off from the hall.

"Are your parents going to be mad?" Adrien asked.

"I think they'll understand," Marinette said, twisting her purse strap nervously. "I am a little hungry though."

"Let's see what kind of dinner we can make with food I've hidden in my room."

Three snack size bags of pretzels, half a box of Tom and Sabine cookies, a _lot_  of cheese, and a single yogurt made the kind of dinner that would have horrified Gabriel, Tom, and Sabine. They enjoyed every bit of it.

The second time Marinette nodded off during their game of Go Fish, Adrien decided it was time to stop putting off The Bed Issue.

"I can find you something to sleep in," Adrien said.

"No, I'm fine," she said.

"You're wearing jeans and a blazer," Adrien said. "I'll find you something comfy."

Over her stuttered protests, Adrien pressed one of his old t-shirts a size too small for him and a pair of his pajama pants into her hands.

"They smell like you," Marinette said when she emerged from the bathroom after changing.

The pants were too long and the shirt collar was slipping towards one shoulder. A blush rising on her cheeks made him think she didn't mean to say that. She looked... cozy. She looked impossibly cute.

"Well, the bed is yours, I'll just get changed and take the couch," Adrien said, heading for the bathroom.

Adrien returned to see Marinette stretched out on her stomach on the couch, scrolling through something on her phone.

"Marinette, you get the bed," he said.

"No, I'm fine, it's your bed!"

"But you're my guest."

"Exactly, guest. That's not my bed, I'd be taking it from you, and that's not fair."

"You stopped being my guest four hours ago," he said. "Now I think you're sort of our prisoner?" He scratched the back of his head. "That sounded much less creepy in my head."

She giggled, dropping her head to her arms.

"Prisoners get the couch," Marinette insisted.

"I will sleep on the floor if you sleep on the couch," Adrien said.

"No, I'm comfy, I promise! Don't-"

Adrien ignored her and tossed his pillow on the floor. He started to stretch out when she finally stood up. He paused, grinning and waiting for her to get in bed, but she walked over to him instead. She pulled him up by his wrists (how was she so strong?) and dragged him towards the bed.

"It's a bed big," she said. "I mean! A big bed! I'll sleep all the way over here, and you sleep over there, and... and it'll be fine."

Adrien never would have suggested it. In fact, it was beyond his wildest dreams. A friend staying over, having a sleepover in his bed?

Marinette pushed him down onto the mattress and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her down with him. Marinette squawked in surprise, but somehow turned falling into somersaulting over his shoulder and pinning his arm behind his back.

"What was that?" Adrien asked, automatically trying to pull away and then freezing when doing so felt like it would separate his shoulder.

"Instinct?"

He wiggled a little and she released his arm, covering her face and shuffling away from him on the bed.

"I'm so sorry! Is your arm okay?"

He rotated his shoulder and nodded.

"What were you even trying to do?" Marinette asked.

"I wanted to give you a hug," he said, looking down at his socks and feeling a little silly. "This is my first time having a sleepover at my house, and you're one of my best friends."

She didn't think, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Your first sleepover and I almost dislocate your shoulder," she said.

He wrapped his arms around her gently. She was so warm.

"Is that typical for sleepovers? The few I've had at Nino's mostly involve video games and music and gossip."

They started sliding down, arms still around each other.

"I don't think I've ever dislocated Alya's shoulder," Marinette said, "but Alix once fell and split her lip open trying to show me dance moves."

They were lying on their sides now, still hugging.

"Sounds like you're dangerous at sleepovers," Adrien said.

"Oh, that's two out of dozens," she said. She shifted closer, moving her arms down around his waist so she could use his arm as a pillow. "What do you and Nino gossip about?"

"School, weird things I see while modeling, Ladybug, Alya's crush on Ladybug, the people Nino meets at his amateur DJ networking things."

Adrien reached over and tugged the blanket over them. A sense of peace settled over him with the blanket.

"That sounds nice," Marinette said. Keeping her eyes open was getting harder. She had never felt more comfortable in her life, despite the fact that there was a part of her mind screaming that this had to be a dream.

"It's really nice," Adrien said, his speech slowing and his blinks taking longer than normal.

"Thanks for the pajamas," Marinette said. "This is much better than jeans."

"Thanks for being here," Adrien whispered the moment before he fully fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk with me over at [cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com](https://cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com/) if you like :)


	2. Alyadrien (Fluff)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien convinces Alya to NOT walk home in a blizzard from his apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Chapter two already!

"I'm not letting you walk home," Adrien said, shaking his head, "and no one's supposed to be on the roads. Just stay, please."

"Not 'letting' me walk home?" Alya asked, crossing her arms. "You wanna try that again?"

"Alya, please stay. The ice on the roads and sidewalks is a death trap, and the wind speed is insane, and it's snowing so hard you won't be able to see, and I don't think I could survive having to tell people for the rest of my life, 'oh no, I'm too scared to go outside when it snows because my dear friend Alya died in the snow', so please? Please stay?"

"Ugh, fine," Alya said, unwrapping the scarf she had just put on. "But you're loaning me your Ladybug pajama set."

"Yes, I will happily do that because I definitely owe you something for keeping you from getting yourself killed by the weather," Adrien said over his shoulder as he went to get the pajamas for her.

"You want tea? I can't sleep without tea," Alya said, walking to the small kitchen that was the only downside to Adrien's off-campus apartment.

"Yeah, thanks," Adrien said, setting the pajamas down on the couch and joining her.

"I guess it's a good thing all my homework for tomorrow is in my backpack," Alya said. "Assuming classes aren't cancelled."

"The university doesn't cancel classes often," Adrien said. "Last time was seven years ago, I hear."

"Can I steal a shirt tomorrow, too?" she asked.

"Of course."

They picked up their conversation where Alya had cut it off a minute before when she decided she wanted to try to walk home in the blizzard of the decade. Alya loved how relaxed Adrien looked in his apartment when it was just the two of them. In class or at photoshoots he always looked like he was waiting for someone to yell at him. It made her wonder if he looked this happy with everyone with whom he hung out. He deserved to, but a part of her hoped some of his smiles were just for her.

"Okay, I'm going to fall asleep on this counter if I don't go to bed," Alya said. Adrien nodded and she went to change in the bathroom.

"It's not fair," Alya said when she exited the bathroom. "How dare you look cuter in these than I do?" She gestured to the pajamas she now wore.

"I disagree wholeheartedly," Adrien said. "You've got that whole thing going on where they're too big so they look extra comfy on you."

"Well, agree to disagree," Alya said. "You need anything from your room?"

"What? I need the whole room," Adrien said.

"Psh, nice try, I'm taking that bed, Agreste. It looks super comfy, and you're the one who trapped me here."

"Trapped?"

"Yeah." She crossed her arms, smirking.

"Keeping you from dying is punished by you taking my bed?"

"Yup!" Alya ran into the bedroom and dove onto the mattress, stretching out. "I was right, it's super comfy."

Adrien sat on the edge of the bed and pushed at her side until she moved, jerking away from his hands.

"No tickling!" she said, pulling a pillow across her abdomen as a shield.

"That was unintentional tickling, I swear," Adrien said, raising his hands.

They stared at each other for a minute until Alya relaxed and handed him her pillow shield. "I guess we're sharing?"

"The bed? Yeah, if you don't mind. It's a lot nicer than the couch."

"And you were gonna stick me on the couch?" Alya said. "Me, your guest and kidnapping victim?"

"We've upgraded me from forcing you to stay to kidnapping?"

"Yup. Now, which side do you want?" Alya asked.

"Whatever," Adrien said. "It's not like I share a bed often."

They settled in and shut off the lights, Adrien on his side facing Alya and Alya stretched out on her stomach, hands under her pillow.

"Should I text Mari to find out if you're a blanket stealer?" Adrien asked.

"No, you shouldn't."

"That means you are," he said and she could _hear_  the smirk in his voice.

"I'm the queen of blanket stealing," Alya said. She rolled over, and before Adrien knew what was happening, she had stolen the sheet while leaving the fleece blanket and comforter where they were.

"That's not exactly what I expected when I said 'blanket stealing'," Adrien said.

"What did you expect?"

"This."

Adrien pinned the blankets between his arm and his side and rolled away from Alya, tugging the covers until her arm farthest from him was exposed.

"You are the _worst_!" Alya said. "I'm gonna freeze to death, get back here with that!"

A brief tug of war ended with them curled in the middle of the bed, Alya moving closer to the source of warmth that was Adrien even with the blankets tucked securely around her again.

"Sorry, I didn't think you'd get that cold that quickly," Adrien said.

"Just be warned, if you do that again you're going to get a half-asleep cuddle buddy." She shifted even closer, pressing her arm into Adrien's chest.

"I'm fine with that," Adrien said. He froze. _Nice going, Adrien_ , he thought to himself. _Doing a great job of hiding that crush you have, huh_?

"Well, good. I guess?"

"In fact, let me make it up to you," he said, his hand on her shoulder guiding her to give him her back. _What are you doing? This is not subtle_! His brain screamed.

"Make up to me that you just froze me into a popsicle or that I'm your prisoner?"

Adrien curled around her, his arm falling so his hand grazed her stomach and his leg bending to line hers. She stilled for a moment and he was about to pull away when she relaxed into his chest.

"Both," she said.

Alya fell asleep almost immediately in Adrien's arms. Adrien tried not to marvel at how soft she was as he drifted off a minute after her.

"Morning, Sunshine."

Adrien did not want to wake up. He felt warm and safe and happy and whoever was talking to him was someone he liked. Those were all good reasons to burrow deeper into the covers and pray that he had long enough to fall back asleep for a while before his alarm went off.

"You make a purring sound in your sleep," the voice said. "Not quite snoring, and definitely cuter, but still, thought you should know."

"It's still early," Adrien mumbled into his pillow.

"Fine, you go back to sleep, but hand me my phone?"

Following her directions woke Adrien up enough to realize the position they were in. They had fallen asleep spooning, he remembered that, but Adrien was pretty sure he had been the big spoon last night, not the little spoon.

"Nice, classes are cancelled until noon," Alya said, setting her phone behind her. She hooked her arm around Adrien's waist again and pulled him closer. "I'm officially going back to sleep."

"You're comfortable?" Adrien asked.

"In addition to being blanket stealing champion-"

"I totally won at blanket stealing," Adrien cut in.

"-I'm also the world's best big spoon. Now go back to sleep."

Adrien rolled over to face Alya and she scrunched her eyes closed.

"Nooo," she whined. "Go to sleep!"

"I'm glad you're here," Adrien whispered. His hand ghosted up to push back a lock of hair that had escaped her braid. Her eyes flew open.

"I mean, you did keep me from giving myself frostbite," she whispered back.

"It's not just that," he said. _Oh, apparently we're doing this now_? his sleepy brain asked. "You come over and keep me company whenever you can, and make studying for economics fun, and apparently you have no problems with sleeping in my bed and cuddling all night." He bit his lip and looked away. "I'm just... glad you're here."

Alya leaned towards him, her eyes staying wide until the last second when she captured his bottom lip with her own.

"What was that?" Adrien asked when she pulled away.

"Don't bite your lip," she said. "It makes you too cute."

He bit it again and wrapped his arm around her back.

"Make me stop."

She had a much better use for his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I started writing for Alyadrien and ended up with a super long angsty thing that did NOT want to end, so I put that aside to do this, because even I, your Angst Emperor, can crave fluff. So, at some point I'll probably post The Angst as a chapter here, too. DOUBLE the Alyadrien! Yeah!


	3. Marichat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here, have some Marichat

Chat Noir huddled under an awning, shivering and pitiful as he tried to avoid the rain. It was quite the downpour, and he really wished he'd checked the weather before heading out to run around a few hours ago. He looked around for anywhere to wait out the storm, but would that really help? It didn't look like it was going to let up for a while. There was no way he could get home without slipping and falling and Plagg had a tendency to wear out and act like he'd used Cataclysm, cutting his time short when exposed to the rain for too long. How was he going to get out of this without becoming completely miserable and possibly trying to make a jump, running out of time in the middle of it, and falling to his death?

There. A roof with a little canopy. He could stay there, out of the way, unnoticed until the storm let up. Chat braced himself and then dove into the rain, making every move precise so he wouldn't slip. He opted for extending his baton to shoot himself across the gaps between the roofs instead of jumping, landing with a clatter among potted plants and a cute lounge chair. Chat huddled against the wall and started shaking off as much of the water as he could. He was clawing at his hair when the skylight he hadn't noticed opened and a familiar pigtail-wearing head popped out.

"Chat Noir?"

"Marinette?"

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"This... is your balcony," he said, hanging his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, Princess. I got caught in the rain, and you know how cats feel about water."

They stared at each other for a moment and Chat worried about the amount of water pouring on Marinette's head and into her room.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Get in here."

She waited until she saw him moving to duck back inside. He dropped onto her bed and felt her move behind and above him to latch the window.

"I'll get us some towels," Marinette said, patting him on the head as she left.

Chat sat on the edge of her bed, not sure what he was supposed to be doing.

"Here, I have a heater set up down here," Marinette called, one towel over her head and another on her arm. Chat joined her in front of the chaise and took the towel, rubbing hard at his hair and face. The suit was waterproof so he was more cold than wet except his exposed head and neck. He felt Marinette run her towel over his shoulders and back.

"Do you want tea?" she asked, moving on to his arms with her quick, aggressive drying assistance. "Or hot chocolate?"

"Anything warm would be nice," he said, drying off the rest of the outside of his suit to spare her room from getting any more wet.

"Put on a movie if you want," she called from the kitchen through the open trap door. "The weather said it would rain like this most of the night, you're stuck here a while."

Chat ran the towel over his head again before looking through the case of movies Marinette had. He was sitting on the floor deciding between two Disney princess movies when Marinette returned.

"And you didn't even get into my yarn! Good Kitty!"

She set down two mugs of tea and scratched one cat ear. Adrien felt his whole body relax, leaning against her leg. She laughed in surprise.

"Okay, no more ear scratches until you pick a movie," she said, settling on the couch.

"This is really nice of you," Chat said, putting in the movie and sitting on the floor in front of Marinette.

"It's nice to have you here," she said. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, this won't end up on the Ladyblog or anything."

"I hadn't even thought of that," Chat said. He really should have thought of that before accepting her offer.

"Don't worry," she said, squeezing his shoulder, "you can trust me."

While they watched, Marinette's hands were in Chat's hair, gently toying with the strands. They didn't say much, but it was the most relaxing, most wonderful night he had had in a long time. They got through all of Moana and half of Aladdin before Chat noticed that Marinette's hand in his hair would slow to a stop for a minute before resuming its soothing rhythm.

"Am I keeping you up?" he whispered.

"Maybe a little," she said. "But it's the weekend, I don't have to go to bed yet."

"Let's get you to bed anyway," he said, standing and holding a hand out to her.

"Do you want to get some sleep?" Marinette asked. "The bed is yours until the rain lets up. Or morning, I'm not going to kick you out in the middle of the night or anything."

"I'm not taking your bed, Princess," Chat said. "It's yours. Come on, I'll catch a cat nap right here if I need to."

"No way, Kitty," she said, curling into a tight ball. "My room, my couch, my bed, my rules."

Chat decided not to argue. Instead, he lifted Marinette into his arms and as she struggled and squirmed, carried her to her bed, dropping her on the mattress.

"Nice try," she said, grabbing his tail as he tried to descend the ladder. "You're not going anywhere."

"You're sleeping in your bed, Princess," he said. "I'm inconveniencing you enough."

"Inconveniencing me by letting me pet you and watch movies with you?" she asked.

Chat didn't know what to say, so he stood there, his tail still in her hand for a moment. He watched a few expressions flit across her face before she nodded to herself and gave his tail another tug.

"Sleep here," she said, patting the bed next to her.

"I- but- you're- I don't..." He shut his mouth so he'd stop spluttering and cocked his head to the side. "Really?"

"I'll pet your hair more," she said, the cutest blush painting her cheeks.

"That shouldn't be such a convincing argument," Chat said, sitting next to her. She grinned and immediately speared her fingers through his hair, pushing it back from his face.

"It's so soft and smooth, even after getting wet," she said, pulling at his arm until he was laying in the perfect position for her to keep playing with his hair while laying on her side. "It's always looked so nice, but tonight is my first time really touching it."

"You're not going to turn into one of those creepy fangirls on me, are you?" he teased.

"Hush and take the compliment," she said. Her eyes were falling closed again, and now that he was laying down, Chat felt his doing the same.

"You really don't mind?" he asked again.

"Stay, my Kitty," she breathed, her hand falling still.

In the morning Marinette found she had an armful of warm, sleeping kitten. She detached slowly, careful not to wake him, and went downstairs to sneak breakfast and coffee into her room.

Chat woke to find Marinette gone. He figured she was in the bathroom and decided he needed to surprise her, pay her back for letting him stay. He jumped out the skylight and went down the street to grab them breakfast and coffee.

"Chat?"

Marinette found her room empty. Did he not want to stay? Did she make him uncomfortable? Was he mad at her? Did she let him sleep too long and he was going to get in trouble at home?

She sat on her chaise, the tray of food next to her and sipped at her coffee, trying to decide if she was going to fall into an anxiety spiral or just a sad and worried funk for the rest of the morning.

"Sorry I took so long, there was a line and Civilian Chat doesn't get to cut lines like I do in costume, but Civilian Chat is the one with the money, so-" Chat was standing on her bed, reaching through the skylight to pull in two cups of coffee and a greasy bag with the logo of a nearby breakfast place. He froze when he saw the tray next to her.

"You didn't leave without saying goodbye," she said, trying not to smile too much. "You went to get breakfast while I went to make breakfast."

Chat smiled and scratched the back of his neck. "I wanted to say 'thank you' for letting me stay. It's grey outside and the clouds are a little threatening, but it's dry enough that I'll be able to get home."

"Do you want to have a picnic on my balcony with our combined breakfasts?" she asked, picking up her tray.

"That sounds great."

They ate and decided on which coffee they liked better and joked around and it wasn't until Chat was on his way home that he realized just how different Marinette acted when she was comfortable and relaxed.

He might have to get caught in the rain again sometime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk with me over at [cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com](https://cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com/) if you like :)


	4. Chloe/Nino

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ChloNo sounds like "oh no" and I like that.

"I'm not letting you two out until you stop fighting!" Adrien yelled through the door. "You're my best friends and all you do is scream at each other. It has to stop, so I'm locking you in until you're friends with each other."

"Never gonna happen," Nino said. "It's not actually possible to befriend Satan herself."

"Adrikins, I have a manicure appointment that I can't skip, so can we reschedule this kidnapping for later?" Chloe asked, leaning against Adrien's desk and frowning at the single chip she had in her nail polish.

"No. Now talk. I'll be back to check on you in a couple hours."

Nino waited until he heard Adrien's footsteps fade before turning to the wall of windows.

"Adrien sneaks out of here all the time. Let's see if we can get out the window."

"It's like, a two story drop," Chloe said. "However he's getting out, it's not from this room."

"No, it has to be from here," Nino said, getting a window open. He climbed onto the ledge and turned back. "You coming? Or is escaping too much of a threat to your nails or hair or whatever?"

"While I don't want to sit on a dirty window sill in these pants that cost more than your entire wardrobe," Chloe said, flipping her pony tail over her shoulder, "it doesn't matter because you're not getting out that way."

Nino rolled his eyes, muttered, "Whatever, dude," and dropped to the ledge outside the window.

And then he looked down.

"Holy shit that's like two stories!"

"I told you," Chloe said. She went to the door and started fiddling with the doorknob.

"How the hell does he get out of here then?" Nino asked, falling back in the room.

"Who knows," Chloe said. "And who cares? Look at my nails! This is awful!" She held out her hand for inspection and Nino, having nothing better to do and a potential opening to mock Chloe, gave her hand a look.

"Chloe, you have exactly one chip in this manicure."

"I know! It's awful, I feel disgusting." She turned away with a huff.

"Whatever. Maybe I can take the door off the hinges or something," Nino said. "Aaaand the hinges are on the outside. Awesome."

"Let me try," Chloe said. "Look away," she said, standing in front of the door with a hand to her hair.

"Why? So you won't reveal that you're a dweeb that knows how to pick locks?"

"No, because I'm going to have to take a bobby pin out of my hair, and I don't want anyone seeing my hair like that."

"Whatever," Nino said, turning his back to her. After ten minutes of listening to Chloe hiss and swear and threaten the lock, Nino turned around. "So no luck?"

"I said don't look at me!" she screeched, jumping away from the door.

"Well, you had to ruin the bobby pin, what did you expect, that I'm not going to look at you the rest of the time in here?"

"Yes," she said. "Obviously."

"Yeah, no."

"Ugh, I made my nails _worse_!" Chloe screeched.

"Oh my gosh shut up about your nails!" Nino yelled.

"My nails are important!"

"They are not!"

"How dare you?"

"How dare _you_ , Chloe? There are so many more important things than your nails right now! We're locked in Adrien's room. I have music to work on tonight. I have stuff to do tomorrow and need sleep. So can you please shut up?"

"Well I'm the only one doing anything about this, so I think I get to complain about whatever I want to!"

"Only one-? Chloe, I tried the window. I would have taken the door off the hinges. You goofed around with a bobby pin."

"And in the process added two more chips to my-"

"Oh for crying out loud!"

Nino marched into Adrien's bathroom and started throwing drawers and cupboards open. He collected items seemingly at random before dumping them on the coffee table in front of the couch. He held up a bottle of forest green nail polish. "Is this shade acceptable?"

"What?"

"You know what?" I don't care. Sit." He pointed to the couch.

"I don't want to-"

"Chloe, I'm trying to fix this situation and do something nice," Nino said, gesturing to the stuff on the coffee table. "Please just shut up."

Chloe looked closer at the items on the table. Cotton balls, acetone, orange sticks, a nail file, and the nail polish in his hand.

"You're going to do my nails?"

"Yeah. Now sit."

She sat, but crossed her arms. "How do I know you won't just paint sloppy lines and make a mess?"

"Because Marinette was my best friend growing up," Nino said. "You think Miss Clumsy did her nails on her own? Most of the time that was my handiwork."

Chloe blinked in surprise. Marinette had always had impeccably cared for and polished nails. If Nino really was behind that, she was in good hands. Ha, Adrien would have liked that pun.

"Fine. But don't screw up."

Chloe held her hand out to Nino and he attacked her nails with acetone, wiping away the scarlet with a gentleness she hadn't suspected of him. He trimmed and filed her nails to the length and shape she specified, and even made her soak her hands to soften her cuticles before he pushed them back.

"I can't believe you're so good at this," Chloe said as Nino focused on applying the base coat.

"This is why I get invited to the sleepovers in class," Nino said. "Rose and I sit there doing everyone's nails."

"I wouldn't know," Chloe sniffed and turned her head away. "I've never been invited."

"Well maybe if you weren't such a bitch," Nino muttered, cleaning up the corner of one nail.

"The only reason I'm not storming away right now is because I can't, but you're being utterly ridiculous. I'm not invited because they're jealous of me."

"You keep telling yourself that," Nino said.

They were silent while he finished his work and Chloe sat there with a fresh manicure in green.

"Not my first choice in color, but I have a few outfits to go with it," she said. "Assuming it doesn't chip immediately, which it will."

"Whatever," he said. He glanced at the door. "What do you think it'll take to get Adrien to let us out? Watch a movie together? Vow to set up a friend date for brunch? Friendship bracelets?"

"I don't know," she said. "Is he even checking on us?"

Nino pulled out his phone and scrolled through a couple apps.

"Nope, he and Marinette are on a date." He turned the screen so she could see.

"Well, how are we supposed to prove we're friends if he isn't even here?" she asked, her voice going shrill.

"I don't know." Nino sighed. "Well, you're trapped while that dries, so I get to pick the movie."

Nino picked a classic terrible horror movie and Chloe almost bounced off the couch in excitement.

"Did you pick this because you thought I wouldn't like it? Because I love it, and Adrien will never watch it with me."

"Are you kidding?" Nino said, flopping on the couch with the remote, "I bought this copy. It was a gag gift for Adrien. I love it and I know how much he hates it."

They watched the movie, cheering for the monster killing people in an empty milk packing factory. When the movie finished, it was late.

"I guess we're staying here tonight," Nino said. "He still hasn't responded to anything I sent him."

"Well, you get the couch then," Chloe said, flouncing over to the bed and kicking off her shoes.

"Excuse me? I'm like a foot taller than you. You take the couch."

"No. We're only here because of you."

"You're the one who can't be nice to save her life! I'm only here because Adrien tricked me. I don't owe you anything, and I'm not sleeping on that couch."

"Well, neither am I!"

"Then enjoy the floor," Nino said, crawling in the bed and putting his hat and glasses on the bedside table, pulling his headphones on to block Chloe out.

"I'm not moving!" she shouted over his music.

"Neither am I!"

The idea occurred to them at the same time. They grabbed all the pillows, including the ones on the couch, and put them as a wall in the middle of the bed. Neither had a pillow for their head, but this seemed to be the best use of the pillows for the night.

"I hate you," Nino said.

"Feeling's mutual," Chloe snarled.

Around two in the morning, Nino woke up with a dull ache radiating from his neck into his head and grabbed one of the pillows from the wall, sighing in relief when it was in place.

Around two thirty, Chloe woke up with her face smashed into the mattress and realized what this was probably doing to her skin, so she grabbed a pillow from the wall.

Around six thirty, Chloe woke up feeling warmer and safer than she had in years. She fell back asleep even as she realized why.

Around seven fifteen, Nino woke to the distinct sensation of a mouthful of hair. He shoved Chloe's hair back down and shifted so his mouth rested against the top of her head away from her pony tail.

Around eight, Adrien walked in and saw what had to be a miracle.

He took pictures and hoped he would get to show them off at their wedding someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk with me over at [cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com](https://cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com/) if you like :)


	5. Alyadrien (Angst)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya runs into Adrien after five years of radio silence.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Adrien turned around to hear a voice he hadn't heard in years.

"Alya Cesaire?"

"Get over here, Rapunzel, and give me a hug!"

Adrien set down his suitcases and all but ran across the hotel lobby to hug Alya. She met him with even more speed and force behind her, knocking him back half a step.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. He didn't want to let go.

"I'm reporting on the conference. I didn't sit next to you in physics and engineering classes for three years for nothing." She pulled away and smacked his arm. "Now answer my question. What the hell are you doing here?"

"I didn't sit next to you in physics and engineering classes for three years for nothing," he said with a smirk. "I'm on the lead design team for the containment unit for the new, more eco-friendly jet fuel."

"But your name isn't on- Did you change your name?"

"I don't go by Agreste anymore," he said, shifting his feet and resisting the urge to scratch the back of his head.

"Between that, the long hair, and joining the four-eyes club, I bet no one even recognizes you," Alya said, reaching out to run her fingers over the braid over Adrien's shoulder.

"You did," he said.

"I did, didn't I?"

They stand there, awkward but happy until a family of five pushes past them, one of the kids bouncing off Adrien's leg as they race to the hotel door.

"Well, I need to go check in," Adrien said. "Do you have time to get lunch tomorrow? I have a free spot from eleven to one thirty."

"Yeah, that'd be great. Need help with those bags?" She eyed the four bags Adrien had been lugging around.

"No, it's fine, they're not heavy, just cumbersome," Adrien said.

"Aw, let me help," she said, picking up the medium sized case behind him. "Okay, we have different definitions of 'not heavy' but still manageable. Now go check in!"

Adrien took his other three bags to the counter to get them out of the way and got the attention of the attendant. He gave his name, and the attendant poked a few keys on his computer.

"Sir, it looks like your reservation was accidentally deleted."

Adrien tried to remember that he had always had bad luck.

"Do you have another room available?"

"No, I'm so sorry. The symposium has us booked up. I can call around to other-"

"Stay with me," Alya said.

"We don't have any spare rollaway beds, either," the receptionist said.

"That's fine. C'mon, Blondie," she nodded towards the elevator and started walking backwards.

"Alya, I couldn't possibly-"

"Did you drive here?"

"No, I took a cab from the airport."

"Then you can't even sleep in your car. Nearest hotel is far, I did my research before choosing this place. Now, c'mon!"

He tried one more time, one desperate bid to not make things weird. "It's really fine, I can just-"

"I'm heading up to my room with this suitcase," Alya said, holding up the bag. "I'm pretty sure it's all your stuff for your presentation tomorrow, so you can't exactly leave without it." She pushed the button to call the elevator and turned back around. "I promise I don't bite."

Adrien looked down at the three bags at his feet, at the front door of the hotel, and back at Alya.

"I'll need a room key," Adrien said.

"We'll get that after we drop off your stuff," Alya said.

He nodded and wrangled his bags over to the elevator just as it opened.

"Thank you," Adrien said in the silence of the elevator ride.

"What are old friends you stopped talking to after a one night stand for?"

Adrien winced.

"Okay, that was mean, sorry," she said, looking down at the bag in her hand. The doors opened, and she walked down the hall and unlocked her door.

"I don't have to stay here if you're still angry," he said, standing in the doorway.

"Get in here, Agreste."

He winced again.

"Damn, sorry, right, you don't use that name any more." She sighed and set his bag on the desk in the corner. "I don't promise to stop making things difficult, but I do want you to stay."

Adrien stepped in the room and shut the door.

"I was just about to head out and get a late dinner," Alya said, tucking her hair behind her ear as Adrien set his things along the wall. "Want me to pick something up?"

"Why don't you order us something from room service? My treat, as a lame attempt to make up for the past five years and taking half your hotel room."

"Dinner will cover the room," she said, grabbing the menu, "Not so sure about the last five years."

Adrien unpacked and Alya worked on her laptop on the bed until the food arrived.

"So, why did you stop speaking to me?" she asked.

Adrien choked. "Do we have to talk about that right now?"

"Will you promise to talk about it at lunch tomorrow?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Here, put my number in your phone, so you can hunt me down if I don't." He unlocked his phone and handed her the device before returning to his meal. Alya added her number to his phone, then texted herself. She then opened his photo app and started looking through it.

"Alya!" Adrien swiped for his phone and missed as she dodged out of his way.

"Just seeing what you've been up to the past few years," she said, jumping off the bed to get out of his reach. "Hey, look! It's Nino! He said he saw you a year or so ago. I couldn't even ask if you'd mentioned me. And here's you and Nathalie at your father's last fashion show." Alya was walking backwards as Adrien advanced on her, trying to get the phone without doing something that could be seen as threatening like yell or grab her arm. "You looked great, by the way. Marinette was surprised I watched the whole thing with her. And here you are-"

Alya stopped and looked up at Adrien. She had found the one picture he didn't want her to see.

"Here you are in the hospital," she said.

Adrien took the phone from her, locking the screen and shoving it in his pocket. He turned away from her and ran his fingers through his hair, his other hand going into his pocket.

"Wait, that picture was taken within a few weeks of that night," she said. "Before graduation, for sure. Why didn't I know you were in the hospital?"

"Because I didn't tell anyone," Adrien said.

Alya studied him, the tension in his posture, the way he wasn't turning to look at her, and it felt like five years ago when he stopped speaking to her.

"What happened?"

"If I didn't tell anyone then, why would you think I'd tell you now?" he asked.

She saw him eye his bags and knew he was thinking of bolting.

"Okay," she said. "Okay, you don't have to tell me. I'm going to get changed, brush my teeth. Just... don't run off, okay? I can't..." She stopped herself from finishing that sentence.

"Can't what?"

"Nothing. Just don't run, okay?"

He nodded and went to open his suitcase, taking out his things for the night, as if to prove he wasn't going anywhere.

In the bathroom, leaning against the door, Alya whispered the rest of her sentence. "I can't survive losing you again." She took her time changing, washing her face, brushing her teeth, listening to make sure the door to the room didn't open. When she couldn't delay any longer, she opened the door a crack and said to Adrien, "Okay, keep in mind that I didn't expect to be sharing a room with anyone when you see my pajamas," she said.

"Same to you," Adrien said.

They were wearing matching Ladybug pajama pants.

"Those are women's pants," Alya said. "How did you ever find them long enough?"

"I bought them in the largest size and had them tailored," he said, a smile finally relaxing him again.

"I know everyone thinks Nino was my first real love," Alya said, laying back on top of the covers next to where Adrien sat, "but it was her."

"Same," Adrien said.

"On both accounts?" Alya asked.

"Just the one," Adrien said.

"I'll be sure to tell Nino he wasn't your first love then," she said with a smirk aimed at the ceiling.

"Last chance," Adrien said. "You still okay with me staying here? I won't feel bad if you say no."

"I've wanted to talk to you again for years," she said. It was a little too vulnerable for her taste, but it needed to be said.

"You have my number now," he said. "We can talk any time you want."

"Yeah," she said, picking at the comforter, "but I still want you to stay."

Adrien nodded and got up to brush his teeth. When he returned he climbed under the covers. Alya followed his lead and got comfy, reaching to shut the light off after they each placed their glasses on their bedside table.

"Goodnight, Alya," Adrien whispered.

"Sleep well, Buttercup."

They both waited. Alya usually made notes on her phone for the next day before falling asleep, and without that routine she wasn't sure how long it would take to drop off, but she didn't dare reach for her phone. Adrien usually read before bed, but the light was off and he was too high strung to concentrate at the moment anyway.

"So, seen any good movies?" Alya whispered after what felt like an eternity.

Adrien dissolved in giggles.

"What?" Alya asked, trying to suppress her own chuckles.

"This is one of the weirdest nights I've had in a long time," Adrien said.

"Oh boy, am I with you on that one," Alya said.

Adrien reached out in the darkness until he found her hand. "I am glad I got to see you again, even if you hate me."

"I don't _hate_  you," she said, shifting her hand in his. Not pulling away, but not grabbing on like he was. "You hurt me, but you're not someone I could ever hate."

They went quiet again, so long that Alya was almost asleep, and the slackening of Adrien's grip on her hand made her think he was drifting off as well when he spoke.

"You saw the last fashion show," Adrien said, "but did you see the one before? It was a couple days after we..."

"Had sex?" she asked, unable to stop the sarcastic sentence finishing if she had tried (which she didn't).

"I was going to go with 'hooked up'," he whispered. "Did you see it?"

"No," she said. "I don't remember what Marinette had to say about it, either."

"Over the two main days of the show, I collapsed three times. The third time, I wasn't able to cover it up. Someone told my father, and I was taken to the hospital. I missed a few of my walks down the runway, but they covered almost seamlessly."

"Why? What happened?"

"I was stressed, I was exhausted. My father had been yelling at me that I was too skinny, and if I lost any more weight, I couldn't model anymore. Do you know how hard it is to eat when someone's yelling at you? Much less yelling at you to eat? So I wasn't eating right, and I was taking too many classes at once, and the fashion show, and not knowing where we stood or what Nino would say if he found out..."

"You always were a nervous thing under all that slick model bravado," Alya said, squeezing his hand. She wanted to ask what, if anything, this had to do with him refusing to talk to her, but her journalistic instincts told her there was an order to ask things that she had to respect. "Were you okay?"

"Yeah, it was more of a wakeup call than anything. I was released the next morning with a handful of referrals, but it was changes to my life that I needed more than anything."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I couldn't," he said. "The only people who know are my father, the makeup artist who found me passed out in an empty room backstage, and now you."

"Not even Nino?"

"Not even Nino."

"But why not? We would have wanted to help you, help you study, help you relax at mealtime."

"Partly because I was embarrassed." His hand withdrew and she missed the warmth. "But it was more to protect you."

"We didn't need protecting, Goldilocks," she said. "Wait, protect us from what?"

"Not 'us'," he said. "You."

"Me?"

"Yeah." He sighed and Alya felt him shift farther away on the bed. "I had to fill out forms at the hospital, and as I was handing it to the nurse, my father grabbed it and read it over. He found out about us. Not who you were, just that I'd had a partner in the last however many months." Adrien shifted farther and Alya was worried he would fall off the bed. "He interrogated me, calling me foolish, blaming you for my stress levels. Asked if you were pressuring me to be skinnier, which was funny because you complained that I needed to eat more even before you saw me without my shirt."

"You wanted to protect me from him finding out who I was?" she asked.

"More than that. He threatened you. Said he would hire private investigators to figure out who you were and then he'd ruin you for 'damaging' me." His voice had picked up a wavering tone that grew worse the longer he talked. "I tried to explain that you were the one good thing that had happened in ages, but he was hellbent on making you pay. The doctor kicked him out when they saw how badly I was shaking. I stopped talking to you to keep you safe."

The small shaking of the bed told her he was crying, but it took a moment for her to unfreeze from her mind seizing up at all he'd said.

"Aw, Adrien." She rolled over and pulled him to her, his arms trapped between them. "You were being the hero, like always. I don't know how I didn't realize it. I _should_  have realized it, it's the only thing that makes sense."

"I hurt you," he said through near-silent sobs. "You deserved the world. I wanted to give you the world, but I had to get as far away from you as possible. I couldn't let him ruin your future. I couldn't let him near you. No one deserved to hear him tear them apart, much less someone as amazing as you."

She didn't know what to do with this. She had assumed so many things for years. That she had done something wrong. Chloe had poisoned him against her. He had found out that Marinette used to like him and found her to be an awful person for sleeping with him after her friend liked him. Even going so far as to wonder if he had told Nino and Nino had disapproved and the two of them blamed her somehow, which was ridiculous because Nino was still her friend. For five years she had thought it was about her being wrong in Adrien's eyes. She had never guessed that it was because she was wrong in Gabriel's.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

How long had he been repeating that?

"Don't be," she said, kissing the top of his head. "I forgive you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I **might** write a part 2. Maybe.  
>  Talk with me over at [cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com](https://cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com/) if you like :)


	6. Alyanette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is a little stressed out during a sleepover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I return from the dead! There's one or two more coming, but this is the end of the ones requested, so after this it's just me shoving rare pairs in people's faces :P

"Okay," Alya said to the assembled group of grade school girls, "I don't care if you don't fall asleep, but I shouldn't be able to hear you at all, and unless you're going to the bathroom, you should be in this room. If you adhere to these rules, I will make chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes in the morning. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" Ella, Etta, and their friends said at once.

"Alright! Have a good sleepover, ladies."

Marinette marveled at Alya's ability to work with children. She had no doubt the girls would keep their noise low enough (though probably not quite as inaudible as Alya had requested) for the rest of the night. Alya was amazing.

"So, Ladybug anime or video games?" Alya asked, flopping onto the couch next to Marinette and laying her head on Marinette's thighs.

"Uh, feither's ine. Either's fine!"

Alya jumped up and put on the anime, curling up against Marinette again.

"You okay?" Alya asked when Marinette tensed up on contact.

"Uh, yeah! Just cold."

"Your face is red," Alya said, reaching a hand to each of their foreheads. "You don't feel too warm. You're sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." She resisted the urge to squeeze her eyes closed in embarrassment.

Alya reached over to the other section of the couch and grabbed a throw blanket. She wrapped it around Marinette and left her arms around her, leaning her head on her shoulder.

"I'll be back in a minute," Marinette said, squirming out of Alya's grasp.

She retreated down the hall to the bathroom and leaned her head against the door when she closed it. She pulled her phone from the pocket she had sewn in her pajama pants and dialed a familiar number.

"Help," she whimpered.

"What's up?"

"So I'm pretty sure I'm in love with Alya and remember how I couldn't function around Adrien before? I think this is worse."

"Yeah, I told you that when you said you'd be staying over at her place this weekend," Nino said.

"Well, I didn't think you were serious!" Marinette said, the arm not holding her phone flailing. "What am I going to do? I'm stuttering, and she's really cuddly tonight and she's so soft and warm and I just want to spend all my time staring at her, sketching her, making her pretty outfits to wear so everyone who sees her in them knows she's mine, and-"

"Okay, I've got a simple plan for you," Nino said. "A scheme worthy of the time you forced the Gorilla to leave Adrien so you could try and get him in a rickshaw."

"Oh my gosh, Nino, that was _one time_ ," Marinette complained, turning to slide her back down the door until she was sitting on the floor.

"You know it wasn't just one time. Anyway, the plan," Nino said. "You ready?"

"Anything to get me through this night," she said, clutching her phone tighter in anticipation of something to solve this situation.

"Okay. Dude, grab her face and kiss her. That's it, that's the plan."

"...You are no help."

"I'm exactly the right kind of help! If you need me to, I will show up with a sick mix and you can use it to serenade her."

"I'm serious, Nino, I need some way to not lose my mind while my crush is cuddling and playing with my hair and magically getting small children to do as she says."

Nino sighed. "I'm not going to change my advice. You really should be direct."

Marinette groaned and flopped on her side, staring at the base of the tub in front of her. "I just like her so muuuch."

"Then show her that."

"I can't. She's my best friend. I could ruin the best relationship in my life."

"Nothing would be ruined even if she didn't feel the same," Nino said. "You and my best bro are still good friends. Better, even, than back when you were a mumbling fool that said weird things to him and confused him to no end."

"You don't know nothing would be ruined," Marinette said, completely sweeping aside her strong, platonic relationship with Adrien as a fluke in her mind.

"D-C, I love you, but it's time you face the music. Either learn how to deal, or learn how to speak up. You got this."

"I most certainly do not got this."

"Good night."

"Uuugh. Good night."

Marinette went through her night time routine even though she knew she and Alya would be up for a while. She felt better with her face washed and her teeth brushed. She gave Tikki a cookie and went back to the living room.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Alya asked. "Something's off. You can't fool me, girl. Even if I wasn't one of the best investigative reporters under the age of twenty-five, I'm your best friend. I know when something's going on. I know when something's bugging you."

"No, I don't- I can't- you wouldn't-"

"Hey," Alya said, grabbing one of Marinette's hands in both of hers. "You can tell me anything, okay?"

Marinette stared at Alya's wide, concerned eyes and felt the words clawing to get past her clumsy tongue. She opened her mouth, and words came out. Coherent, clear words.

"I'm kinda tired is all. Do you mind if we go to bed soon?"

Marinette watched Alya deflate before her eyes. Her shoulders hunched, her head nodded and stayed down, her eyes fell to her lap, her hands withdrew.

"Yeah, of course. After this episode?"

Marinette nodded and as Alya settled a good foot away from her on the couch, she wondered what she had done wrong. Maybe Alya could tell she was lying, but she hadn't meant to lie so much as withhold the truth. Didn't Alya get, after all this time, that if she was keeping a secret it was for the greater good?

The episode ended without either absorbing what happened. They cleaned up the living room and went to Alya's room and discovered that there was a problem neither had realized until that moment.

"The sleepover took all the sleeping bags and blankets," Alya said as they stood side by side staring at her twin bed.

"Yes, it did." Marinette was surprised her heart could beat this fast while standing still.

"So we only have my bed."

"Correct."

"And my set of blankets."

"True."

"It's not like we haven't fallen asleep on each other before."

"Many times!"

"So... So we're sharing the bed?"

Alya turned to Marinette. She was biting her lip and worry lines crossed her forehead. All Marinette wanted to do was kiss her until all her stress and anxiety melted away. She dropped her eyes from Alya's lips to where her hands were knotted together.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. I can use the throw blanket from the couch on the floor if-"

"No way, if anyone's sleeping on the floor-"

"-but if you want to-"

"-and I don't mind-"

They both stopped for a moment and took a breath. At the same time they said, "We can share?"

They smiled.

"Okay," Alya said. "Get comfy, I'll be back in a minute.”

As Alya went to brush her teeth, Marinette sat on the edge of the bed. The sheets had that distinctly “Alya” smell that she loved, and it calmed her racing heart just a bit. She tried to decide which side of the bed to take. The outside would mean if she woke up in the middle of the night she could get up without disturbing Alya, but she probably would fall out of bed at some point, knowing how things usually went for her. If she took the side against the wall, she couldn’t fall out of bed, but if Alya moved too close there wasn’t anywhere she could go. She decided that getting sleepy-snuggled by her best friend/crush wasn’t the end of the world and slid into the corner, stretching like a cat once she was settled.

“Don’t you look cozy.”

Marinette jumped and turned to see Alya leaning against the door frame.

“You said to get comfy.” Marinette fiddled with the blankets for a moment.

“I did. And you did an excellent job.” Alya sat on the bed next to her. “You’re okay with this?”

“Yeah,” Marinette said, feeling her cheeks heat. “I like being near you.”

Alya nodded and curled up on her side next to Marinette, her knee brushing Marinette’s thigh and her lower arm against Marinette’s.

“Goodnight, M,” Alya said as she shut out the light.

“Goodnight.”

They lay there, slowly relaxing. Marinette was half asleep when Alya spoke.

“Did I make you uncomfortable earlier?”

“No, I’m just nervous because every time you touch me I want to kiss you.”

Marinette jolted to full consciousness. She had _not_ meant to say that! This was a disaster! Maybe she could play it off as weird sleep talking? Say she hadn’t meant it? But she had meant it, and that would be just another lie to add to the pile of them accumulating between the two of them, and that was the last thing she wanted.

“Marinette?” Alya reached out a hand, touching her hip lightly.

“Yeah?”

“You want to kiss me?”

“Yeah.”

Alya’s hand slid across Marinette’s stomach along her waistband, feather light until she had reached her other hip, tugging on it to pull Marinette onto her side, adding many more points of contact between them. Marinette was cataloging all the spots where Alya was touching her (toes to shins, knee to lower thigh, hand to hip, other hand grabbing her fingers, their, um, _chests_ , her forehead leaning against hers) and internally freaking out that she had just said a _lot_ of things she didn’t mean to say when she realized Alya had asked her a question.

“Can you repeat that?” Marinette squeaked.

Alya laughed. “Do you like me?”

“So much.” Damn those ninja reporter interview skills!

“You have a crush on me?”

“So bad.” She tried to bring her hand up to cover her face, but Alya’s hand left her hip to grab her hand and bring it to rest between them. “It’s all I think about.”

“Marinette?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Marinette squeezed her eyes closed. “Not if you don’t mean it.”

“If I don’t mean it?”

“If the kiss doesn’t mean something, I don’t want it.”

Alya licked her lips and released Marinette’s hand to brush dark hair behind her ear.

“You tell me if I mean it,” Alya whispered. She reached up to cup Marinette’s cheek and gave the softest kiss to her best friend.

As Alya pulled back, Marinette felt too much at once. Her heart racing, every place she and Alya were touching, the blanket falling off her hip, Alya’s breath rushing across her face. There was only one thing to do.

She kissed Alya, her arms coming around her waist and pulling her close. Everything she felt fell to the back of her mind as she focused on the kiss, on just one point of contact, their lips meeting over and over and over. When the back of her mind had finally processed _I am kissing Alya, the most beautiful woman on the planet, and she likes me, she likes me, she likes me_! she pulled back giggling.

“What?” Alya asked, giggling too.

“You knew! You knew, didn’t you?”

“That you like me?” Alya asked. Marinette nodded. “Of course I knew! I’ve known how you act with a crush since, like, the first week of school! But I knew if this was ever going to work, you had to say it first. I couldn’t take that step until you were ready.”

“I wouldn’t say mumbling it half asleep was ‘ready’ exactly,” Marinette said, giggling again. “But I did say it first. And you… you like me.”

It was almost a question. Even with the joy fizzing around in her chest, she had to hear it, had to be sure.

“I like you,” Alya said, leaning forward to kiss Marinette’s nose. “I’ve liked you for so long.”

Marinette buried her face against Alya’s neck, smothering more giggles.

“Is this real? This is really happening?”

“I hope so,” Alya said. “If not, it’s the best dream. The kind that makes your heart ache when you wake up and it’s not real.”

Marinette nodded. “And either way,” she said, pulling back a little so she could see Alya’s face. “In the morning I still get chocolate chip pancakes.”

Alya kissed her again. “I’ll add extra chocolate, just for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk with me over at [cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com](https://cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com/) if you like :)


	7. Nelix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's some self-indulgent angsty nelix.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday was my birthday, so I'm officially Too Old to not post stuff because I'm self conscious.

The school trip got the class to the hotel late at night and the teachers were grumpy and unwilling to help with little problems. Problems like-

“But there's only one bed,” Nino said.

“I don't care,” the teacher said. “If there are no rollaway beds, figure something out.”

And then he all but slammed his door in their faces.

“Maybe we can switch with someone?” Nino suggested.

Felix was slumped against the wall, his eyes closed. He nodded slowly, not moving otherwise.

“Look, we'll get to sleep soon,” Nino said. “Let's just sort this out.”

They went in search of Adrien. Surely whoever his roommate was would let him switch for Nino. Then Adrien and Felix would take the room with the one bed, Nino could stretch out like a starfish in the bed that had been Adrien's, and all would be well.

“What?” Adrien growled when he answered the door.

“Switch rooms with me,” Nino said. “Felix and I were accidentally put together and our room only has-”

“No.”

Adrien went to close the door but Nino stepped in the way.

“What? Why not? He's your brother.”

“I'm sharing with Marinette. She traded with Nathaniel. Alya was in her room, she traded with Alix and is with Mylene. We all arranged this on the bus. If you didn't do that, you're stuck. Now go away.”

Adrien shoved Nino back and closed the door quickly and quietly.

"I don't even care," Felix said. "I'll sleep in the bathtub. I'll sleep on the floor. Can we please just go sleep?"

Nino stopped to look at Felix. Something was off. Felix was looking down at his shoes, his hair shadowing his face and his arms hanging limply at his sides.

"We'll figure it out," Nino said. He started walking towards their room. He figured Felix would follow, but didn't hear him. When Nino unlocked their door though, there was Felix, still looking at the ground. Maybe the drive up wore him out?

"I just need a pillow and, I don't know, a sheet or something," Felix said. It was his low tone of voice telling Nino that something wasn't right.

"You feeling okay?" Nino asked.

"What do you care? Just let me go to sleep."

"I mean, the bed is pretty big," Nino said. "I can stay on my side and you on yours and we'll figure out who to switch with in the morning?"

"I don't care."

Nino was finding his annoyance with having to do all the thinking and planning and problem solving was starting to become louder in his head than the little voice that kept saying that something was wrong. He sighed and went to his luggage.

"Go ahead and use the bathroom, I'll change out here."

Felix carried his entire suitcase into the bathroom because he was too tired to sort through it for what he needed. He took long enough that Nino was getting worried when he finally reemerged dressed in the most normal looking plaid pajama pants and plain black t-shirt. He went straight to the bed, crawled under the covers, and laid face down for a moment before barely angling his face out of his pillow. Nino used the bathroom and shut off all the lights before stumbling his way in the dark to the other side of the bed.

“Goodnight,” Nino said.

Felix gave a barely audible “Night” and the room fell silent.

Nino tried to sleep, but he had slept on the bus, and the activity of moving everything from the bus to the hotel and trying to switch rooms had left him wired. He reached for his phone and started reading random articles he had saved.

“Nino?”

“Sorry, is the light bugging you?”

“Yes, sorry.”

Nino shut his phone off and rolled over, trying to meditate. He must have been doing a decent job because Felix seemed to think he was asleep. He felt Felix move around a little, and then heard something like a hiccup. Then Felix seemed to be shaking or shivering. Nino had relaxed enough that he was probably half asleep, so he wasn’t sure if anything was wrong. Or, he wasn’t sure until Felix slid from the bed, taking his pillow with him. Nino waited a moment more, trying to get his tired brain to piece together what in the world Felix was doing. He managed to wake up enough to turn his head. Felix was curled into the small corner between the bed, back wall, and wall of the bathroom with his pillow crushed to his chest, his face buried in it. He was visibly trembling and shuddering and when it finally clicked that Felix was crying, Nino struggled into a sitting position.

“Felix?”

Felix shrank into the corner, trying to make himself smaller.

“Felix?” Nino slid across the bed, closer to Felix.

“Go back to sleep,” Felix whispered.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Felix…” Sitting on the edge of the bed, Nino reached out and tugged down a corner of the pillow. Felix flinched hard enough to knock his elbow into the wall with enough force that Nino hoped whoever was on the other side of the wall was a deep sleeper.

“Would you just leave me alone?” Felix whispered. He was curled impossibly small and shaking and Nino didn’t realize he was off the bed and kneeling before him until he had the pillow in his grip, guiding it out of Felix’s arms.

“Leave me alone.”

It was meant to be threatening, Nino knew, with the way Felix formed the words with sharp edges and glared through red, puffy eyes, but the way he pushed himself against the wall behind him, the broken quality of his voice, and the tears streaming down his now-exposed face only made Nino more determined.

“Come here,” Nino whispered. He pulled on Felix’s arm until Felix stopped fighting, collapsing against him and knocking them both back, Nino landing hard on his butt but keeping a close hold on the sobbing mess in his arms.

Nino was surprised that Felix gave up with so little fight, and it only made him worry more. He didn’t say anything, didn’t rock him or run a hand up and down his back, not knowing what Felix needed when he was this upset. He just held onto him, arms tight around his back as Felix buried his face in Nino’s chest, one hand clutching his shirt, the other clinging around Nino’s back. They sat, awkward and cramped in the narrow space between the bed and the bathroom wall, until Felix managed to get enough of a hold on himself that it at least seemed like he was breathing regularly between sobs.

“I’m sorry,” Felix said, pulling back into his corner. “Sorry, I was trying to be quiet. I even got out of bed so the shaking wouldn’t wake you up.” He was wiping furiously at his face with the heels of his hands and Nino got up to hunt down tissues.

“I wish you had just told me that something was wrong,” Nino said, sitting back down on the floor and handing Felix a roll of toilet paper and an unopened water bottle he had shoved in his bag during the dinner stop.

“I generally try not to blubber like a child in front of other people,” Felix said. He blew his nose and started dabbing at his eyes and cheeks again.

“Yeah, but you could have said you were upset or something.”

“Yes, because we’re so close.”

“We don’t have to be close for me to care that you’re upset. Especially this upset.” Nino nudged the water bottle closer to him and took a handful of toilet paper to dry his shirt a bit.

“Sorry about that.” Felix cringed.

“It's fine. I pulled you over to me. I knew what I was getting into.”

Felix gave a short laugh at that, but a second later he curled in on himself again, tears starting up anew.

“What can I do?” His hand landed on Felix’s arm and Felix reached out and grabbed onto Nino's wrist in response. Not pulling him away, but not fully accepting the gesture, either. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“I’d rather not cement for you exactly how pathetic I am, thanks,” he said, burying his face in his knees but still clinging to Nino’s arm.

“I swear I don’t think you’re pathetic,” Nino said. “I may finally be sure that you’re human, and not an android, but that’s a good thing, right?”

“But you had such excellent android jokes,” Felix said, managing to calm down a little again.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” Nino said, squeezing Felix’s forearm.

Felix sighed and leaned his head against the wall behind him, withdrawing his hand.

“Adrien thinks he has it so hard with Father’s judgement. Judging his piano performance, judging his modeling photos, judging his fencing, schoolwork, friends. I couldn’t even get Father to respond to my ‘goodbye’ before we left for school yesterday. Last week, he signed Adrien’s permission slip for this trip, and mine sat on his desk until I stole it Monday and forged his signature. And this morning? The kitchen caught on fire, did Adrien tell you?” Nino nodded. A small grease fire had spread to a good chunk of the wall before the cook found and used the fire extinguisher. “As the alarms were going off and everyone was running around trying to figure out if we needed to evacuate or not, Father yelled for Adrien. Nathalie checked if I was okay as an afterthought. And then… we had school and the bus ride and I haven’t…”

“You weren’t alone until now,” Nino said. That was… awful. Unacceptable. Felix was on the prickly side, but no one deserved to be ignored like that. If Nino were to bet on it, he was sure that being blatantly ignored, discounted, overlooked, was part of the reason Felix became… well, Felix.

Felix nodded. He took a shuddering breath and squeezed his eyes closed. “I told you I’m pathetic.”

“Dude, wanting your old man to show he loves you isn’t pathetic,” Nino said. “It’s kinda… I mean the situation is awful, I wouldn’t have been able to wait until- what, eighteen hours later?- to cry.”

“I didn’t want Adrien to know,” he said, closing his eyes. He groped blindly for the water bottle and took a few sips, trying to get his voice at least partially back to normal. “I don’t think he’s really noticed yet that I’m…” He trailed off, and the word that came to Nino’s mind was “neglected”. “And he would only feel guilty if he knew. You know how he gets. It would be that he’s ‘stealing’ Father’s attention, as if having more than one child isn’t something many parents manage to juggle just fine.”

“Hey,” Nino said, standing and reaching out a hand to pull Felix up. “You know that old jackass is wrong, yeah?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Felix said, fiddling with his pillow.

“It does, man. You’re worth paying attention to. You’re worth ‘goodbye’ and signed permission slips, and fire safety and both of you are worth kindness, and like, criticism-less interactions, and someone showing up to your damn Parents’ Day.”

“Are you actively trying to make me cry again?” Felix asked, his hands on his pillow still and his head hanging low. There was a barely perceptible trembling to his voice that wasn't there a moment before.

“If me saying that you’re worth those things can make you cry, then you need to hear them more.”

Felix snorted. “Let’s just… go to sleep.”

“You sure?”

Felix nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. Nino circled around and crawled under the covers again. He was on his side, facing Felix and letting everything catch up to him. The Agreste house was more screwed up than he had figured. And with how little Adrien talked about it, even after years of best friendship, he had figured it was pretty screwed up.

Felix situated himself on his back, then rolled on his side and curled into fetal position. Then he rolled on his stomach for a moment, before sitting up and tossing his pillow on the floor.

“What are you doing?” Nino asked, reaching out to grab his wrist before Felix could follow his pillow to the floor.

“I’m not comfortable, I’ll just sleep on the floor.”

“You’re not sleeping on the floor.”

“It's fine.”

“Felix, literally nothing is fine right now.” Nino sat up as well. “Imma put on one of those sleep noise things on my phone and you're going to stay right there and _sleep_ if it kills us both. You've been hyped about getting to see the library and museums here for two months, you aren't missing that because of some asshole who doesn't realize how great you are.”

Felix lowered himself back to the bed, tugging his pillow back in place.

“Do you prefer rain sounds or ocean sounds?” Nino asked, flipping through things on his phone with one hand, still holding Felix in place by the wrist with the other.

“Rain is nice.”

Nino plugged in his phone charger so he wouldn’t drain the battery overnight and set his phone on the nightstand again.

“You can let go of me now,” Felix said, raising the wrist Nino held.

“Not until you’re not a flight risk. Go to sleep.”

They fell asleep like that, Nino holding on to Felix, and they woke holding hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk with me over at [cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com](https://cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com/) if you like :)


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